Not sure if this will help you as I have old IBM Thinkpads.
I think it was eight years ago I bought the R51e (a Lenovo). It is a work horse and has survived much physical abuse. It has been in extremely dusty situations when my house was being renovated. Thinking it was going to bite the dust due to the abuse, I bought a back up Thinkpad, a Lenovo T60 about 5 years ago. When Irene hit, the area was filled with mud dust everywhere. There was no escaping it. It was on everything. I’m still using the R51e and have no problems whatsoever with it. The T60 I started using last summer just so it wouldn’t feel neglected. Both work fantastic.
For durability, I would recommend Lenovo. It has survived through a lot of abuse.
I would like to thank everyone for lending your helpful comments. I will be returning to this thread once the laptop is delivered.
Sincerely,
TJI